It’s been exactly three months since Eli Sancomb picked up his first offer from a Division I program, that coming from Drexel less than 24 hours after the 6-foot-5 guard helped will Wheeling Central Catholic to a Class AA state championship.
In the time since, Sancomb has won the Evans Award as the top high school basketball player in West Virginia and excelled on the AAU circuit as a member of West Virginia Gold to the point he now has offers from seven Division I programs. He also added to his hardware collection as a pitcher on the Maroon Knights’ Class AA state championship baseball team.
Suffice to say, there hasn’t been much of an offseason for Sancomb — something he’s totally fine with.
“I really enjoy being in the gym and working out,” Sancomb said Sunday night as a guest on Citynet Statewide Sportsline. “I try to [get away from it] a little bit, but I really do enjoy being in the gym all the time.”
Sancomb was instrumental in leading Central to its 11th state championship on the hardwood and first in seven years back in March. In state tournament victories against Ritchie County, Westside and Williamstown in the final, Sancomb totaled 72 points, 41 rebounds, 15 assists, eight steals and six blocked shots with only seven turnovers. The left-hander didn’t lack efficiency in Charleston, making 22-of-40 field-goal attempts, including 7 of 12 from long range, and 21-of-23 free throws.
For his junior season, Sancomb averaged 25.8 points, 10.5 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 2.6 steals, while shooting better than 54 percent from the field, 36 percent on threes and nearly 85 percent from the free-throw line.
Since then, while juggling AAU basketball and high school baseball throughout the spring, Sancomb has upped his game to another level, which he put on display Saturday with a 48-point effort in the Maroon Knights’ 76-69 win over Fairmont Senior as part of the Hope Gas Morgantown Shootout at Mylan Park.
“I don’t really focus on the points. I just focus on the score and the clock,” Sancomb said. “We were up most of the second half, but it was close, so I knew I had to get downhill and just make the right plays if it it was shooting or making the right pass, whatever it was.”
The Maroon Knights also took on Woodrow Wilson and Musselman in the event at Mylan Park that allowed each team to play three games.
“We’re playing some bigger schools, bigger teams that are more athletic, so it helps for sure,” Sancomb said. “Coach Mel [Stephens] puts a lot of plays in and we did a great job of moving the ball and everyone was sharing it. We’re improving on that for sure.
“We practice two or three times a week. We won’t run all the plays that we run in the winter, but we’ll run some of them and he’ll put some new ones in, so it’s been good.”
In addition to Drexel, Sancomb also holds offers from Marshall, Loyola Chicago, Mercyhurst, Youngstown State, Murray State and Liberty.
“With how much work I’ve put into it, that’s kind of showing a little bit now,” said Sancomb, who also named Gatorade Player of the Year in West Virginia last season. “I’m happy with that.“
It’s reasonable to expect at least several more are on the way.
“I think I’m going to keep it open for a little while,” Sancomb said of his recruitment. “I’m going to go on some visits in the fall and check all the schools out, and then I’ll make my decision probably right before the season starts. I’m not stressing out about it.”
Sancomb should have plenty of guidance in the decision-making process as his father, Danny Sancomb, is a longtime Division II men’s basketball coach who recently wrapped up his seventh season as head coach at California (Pa.).
Prior to his time with the Vulcans, Sancomb was head coach for 11 seasons at Wheeling University, where he is one of the most accomplished players in program history having led the country in scoring at 26.9 points in 1997-98.
These days, Sancomb keeps busy by continuing to lead the Cal hoops program, while having two sons play key roles at WCCHS. Eli’s younger brother, Luke Sancomb, is a rising junior and was also an important piece to last season’s title-winning team.
“He tells me a lot of great things,” Eli Sancomb said. “Even if I do play well, he still has stuff to say to me, which I really like. He knows what he’s really talking about, which helps me become an even better basketball player. He works us out a lot and has a lot of good things in mind. It really helps me and Luke become a better basketball player and a better person.”
For now, Sancomb will focus on what lies ahead in the near future, including a charity exhibition at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday between the Maroon Knights and Wheeling Park from the Central Catholic Athletic Center. Central’s girls team takes on Martins Ferry, Ohio at 5 p.m. to start the events, which will have no admission charge and accept monetary donations for proceeds going to the Triadelphia and Valley Grove Volunteer Fire Departments in the wake of recent deadly floods in Ohio County.
“That was a tragic thing that happened. It was really sad,” Sancomb said. “It’s really cool that we’re putting money into the floods. Now we know what we’re going to play for on Wednesday. We’re going to play for all the people that died. It’s a cool thing that people did for them.”
The following day, Wheeling Central will head for Sandusky, Ohio, where the Maroon Knights join George Washington and Morgantown as three-West Virginia based programs set to compete in Midwest Live starting Friday.
“A lot of coaches will be there,” Sancomb said. “That’s a really big event for our team.”